Carrizales, Parr and Crofford Run Regional-Qualifying Times at Mt. SAC Relays

Walnut, Calif. ? After a productive day one on Thursday at the 50th annual Mt. SAC Relays the Husker distance squad returned on Friday with the mindset of running at the top of its game at one of the most tradition rich meets in the nation.

 

With Joslyn Dalton earning a regional-qualifying time in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase on Thursday, teammate Rachel Carrizales took to the track on Friday with the goal of improving her regional time in the same event. Carrizales finished 14th overall in a competitive invitational field at 10:28.97. Her time would have given her the top time in the college division on Thursday and it knocked 19.65 seconds off her regional-qualifying time. Carrizales’ new time will move her from No. 12 in the Midwest Region to No. 6.

 

Brian Parr followed up Carrizales’ performance with an NCAA Regional-qualifying performance of his own in the collegiate division of the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase with an eighth-place time of 9:04.31. Parr is the first Husker athlete on the men’s side to qualifier for the 3,000-meter steeplechase this season.

 

Freshman Lara Crofford finished off the night for the Huskers in dramatic fashion as she easily qualified in the 5,000 meters, running 24.27 second under the regional-qualifying standard. Crofford’s third-place finish of 16:27.73 is the fourth-fastest 5,000 time all-time outdoors at Nebraska. The time also ranks her No. 8 in Division I and No.1 in the Midwest Region this year. Crofford has now regionally qualified in the 5,000 meters and provisional qualified in the 10,000 meters for the NCAA meet.

 

"The weather was perfect today and having good competition really helped out. I think the 10,000 meters is my race but if Coach (Jay) Dirksen wants me to run the 5,000 meters I'll do that as well," said Crofford following the meet.

 

The Huskers will now travel to Norwalk, Calif., for the Long Beach Track and Field Invitational on Saturday. On the women’s side Carrizales, Dalton, and Ari Goldstein will compete in the women’s 1,500 at 12:50 p.m. (Central) while Jen Pancoast and Natalja Zarcenko will compete in the 800 meters at 3:35 p.m. On the men’s side Brian Parr will compete in the 1,500 meters at 1:10 p.m. and Peter van der Westhuizen will run the 800 meters at 3:45 p.m. As of Friday night live results will not be available so check Huskers.com for a full recap.